High level clouds that generally occur at 16,500 feet or higher. They are made of ice crystals and have a wispy appearance as if its cottony fibers have been stretched out across the sky. There are different types of cirrus clouds, and I’ll mention just a couple that I took photos of today. Cirrus intortus are irregularly shaped clouds that are usually curved or as the Latin translation of intortus means, “twisted or wound.” You can see some represented in the photo to the right. Cirrus fibratus clouds derive their name from Latin, meaning “fibrous.” That’s what the clouds in the first photo below look like to me. The fascinating part was that all of these different cirrus cloud formations were in the same sky, and they were constantly changing as I stood there watching them.
Reference:
Ludlum, David M. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Weather. Knopf, 1993.
